Biden, Power Go Out With Guns Blazing at Russia

Donald Trump's plan to cozy up to Russia is "backwards" and all politicians should stand against it, says the current US ambassador to the UN. In her last major speech on the job Tuesday, Samantha Power urged politicians to prevent the Kremlin from "tearing down" a "rules-based" world order and keep Trump from excusing Russia's crimes, including the annexation of Crimea, the hacking of the US election, and its role in a Syrian bombing campaign, per Quartz. She even went as far as to accuse Vladimir Putin of killing his opponents. "Having defeated the forces of fascism and communism, we now confront the forces of authoritarianism and nihilism," she said at the Atlantic Council.

Reversing sanctions against Russia "will only embolden Russia" and encourage North Korea and Iran, "which are constantly testing how far they can move the line without triggering a response," Power continued, per Politico. Her sentiments were echoed by Joe Biden at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. Biden referred to Russia's escalating efforts to "undermine the US-led liberal democratic order," promising the Kremlin will interfere in upcoming elections in Europe, reports the Huffington Post. He also noted a general "willingness to revert to … the same nationalist, protectionist, and isolationist agendas that led the world to consume itself in war," adding a "hands off" approach to foreign policy "could be very ugly," per USA Today. (More Russia stories.)